Adjustable frame unit for advertising mat



March 6, 1962 J. M. COINTREAU 3,023,525

ADJUSTABLE FRAME UNIT FOR ADVERTISING MAT Filed July 13, 1961 FIG. I.

INVENTOR JACQUES MERCIER COINTREAU ATTORNEYS.

BY I f a cg nite 3,023,525 ADJUSTABLE FRAME UNIT FOR ADVERTISING MAT Jacques Mercier Cointreau, 79 E. 79th St., New York, N.Y. Filed July 13, 1961, Ser. No. 123,868 Claims. (Cl. 40-155) This invention relates to an improved holder for advertising mats and the like, and in particular, relates to an improved adjustable frame unit for supporting said advertising mats.

In the production of advertising material, it is common to prepare a proposed advertisement and to mount such advertisement on a rectangular board or mat in order to rigidify and protect the proposed advertisement. In order to display such advertisement or proposed advertisement effectively, it has been common to cut out in a larger board a rectangular opening of the exact size of the mat and to mount the mat within such rectangular opening the larger board. This procedure has presented difliculties, in the first place because of the time consumed in cutting the aperture in the larger board, and in the second place because of wastage when the opening was not cut out to exactly the right size.

An important object of this invention is to provide a permanent frame unit having an opening of adjustable size for receiving advertising mats of various corresponding sizes. Another object of this invention is to provide an adjustable frame unit of this type whose overall peripheral size remains constant regardless of the adjusted size of the central opening.

Another important object of this invention is to provide an adjustable frame of the type described above, which is economical to manufacture, and the adjustment of which is extremely simple and foolproof.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, I provide an adjustable frame unit for advertising mats comprising a rear panel and a front panel opposing and fixed to the rear panel. The front panel has a generally rectangular aperture. Pockets are formed in the unit between the front and rear panels and extending outwardly from the respective peripheral edges of the aperture in the front panel. A plate-like slide member is located within each of the pockets and is slidable inwardly and outwardly. A tab on the inner end of the slide member is located inwardly of the pocket and is forwardly spaced from the rear panel. As a result of this construction, the tabs may be positioned so as to retain advertising mats of various" sizes within the aperture Iith the respective edge portion of each mat positioned between a respec tive tab and the rear panel. Preferably, friction means are provided betweeneach slide member and its associated panel, so as to tend to retain the slide member frictionally in adjusted position, while at the same time making it convenient and simple to vary the position of the slide member when it is desired to accommodate a mat of different size.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description, in conjunction with the annexed drawing, in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is disclosed.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of the improved adjustable frame unit in accordance with this invention, the front panel of the unit being partly broken away in order to show more clearly one of the slide members. The slide members areshown intheir full line position supporting a first mat, and are shown in their broken line positions supporting a second and smaller mat:

FIG. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of FIG. 1; and

3,023,525 Patented Mar. 6, 1962 FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a slide member in accordance with this invention.

Upon reference to the drawings in detail, it will be noted that they show an adjustable frame unit for advertising mats comprising rear panel 10 and front panel 11 opposing and fixed to said rear panel 10. Said panels 10 and 11 are preferably of rectangular shape. For convenience, the panels 10 and 11 will be described as being in the upstanding position in which they are frequently placed for purposes of showing an advertisement to a viewer. For convenience, the side edges of the panels 10 and 11 will be defined as their longitudinal edges, and the top and bottom edges will be defined as their lateral edges. Also, for convenience, the direction from the center of the panel to any of the peripheral edges thereof will be defined as the outward direction, and the direction from any of the peripheral edges to the center of the panel will be defined as the inward direction.

Panels 10 and 11 may be made of any suitable material, which may include, by way of example, heavy paperboard or plastic. Preferably, panels 10 and 11 are secured together in spaced relationship by means of a peripheral flange 12. The panels 10 and 11, together with flange 12, may be secured together integrally or by any other suitable means.

Front panel 11 has a generally rectangular aperture 13 with side or longitudinal edges 13a and upper and lower or lateral edges 13b. Preferably, panel 11 is further formed with four rectangular cutouts 14, each said cutout 14 being centered on a respective aperture edge 13a or 13b and extending outwardly thereof. Each said cutout 14 has an outer edge 14a which is quite long compared to the distance between said edge 14a and edge 13a or 13b as the case may be.

The unit is further formed with pockets 15 between panels 10 and 11 and respectively extending outwardly from pocket edges 14a. It will be understood, on the basis of the previous description, that if panels 10 and 11 are secured together solely by the peripheral flange 12, the entire space between panels 10 and 11 will be open. However, it is entirely within the scope of the invention to fill in the space between panels 10 and 11, except for the necessary pocket spaces 15 extending outwardly from each cutout 14. Accordingly, for convenience, the section of space between panels 10 and 11 and located outwardly of each cutout edge 14a is referred to as a distinct pocket 15.

A slide member 17, which is generally rectangular andplate-like, is positioned within each pocket 15 and is-slidable inwardly and outwardly. Preferably, each said slide member 17 is of less width than the width of cutout 14.- Preferably, each slide member 17 is somewhat elongated in the direction of itsinward and outward movement, this being defined as the axis of the slide member. A tab 18 is connected to the inner end of each said slide member 17 and is elongated in the direction crosswise of the axis of said member 17. Preferably, the width of each said tab member 18 is substantially equal to the length of edge 14a. Tab 18 is parallel'to panel 10. Preferably, the distance between the rear face of tab 18 and the front face of panel 10 is substantially equal to the thickness of panel 11. Tab 18 may be integral with or otherwise connected with the main portion of slide member 17, optionally by means of flange 18a which is coextensive in width with tab 18 and which is transverse to slide member 17.

Any suitable friction means may be provided between slide member 17 and pocket 15. In the embodiment shown in the drawing, the front surface of slide member 17 has a series of corrugations 19 extending crosswise of the axis thereof. Such corrugations 19 may advantageously be formed by molding in the event that slide member 17 is made of plastic, or may be formed in any other suitable way. Within each pocket 15, the rear face i) of panel 11 may be formed with corresponding corrugations 16 which extend in the same direction and which are complementary to corrugations 19. Ordinarily, the corrugations 19 of slide member 17 interlock or mesh with the corrugations 16 of sprocket 15. However, by exerting sufiicient force on tab 18, it is possible to move slide member 17, panel 11 flexing sufficiently to permit the corrugations to be moved out of mesh. Slide member 17 may then be locked in its new adjusted position with the corrugations 16 and 19 again intermeshing. The cornugations 16 and 19 are sufiiciently fine so as to permit fractional inch adjustments of the position of slide member 17.

As a result of the above construction, the unit is adapt ed to receive rectangular boards 20 of varying sizes and to hold said boards 20 releasably clamped within aperture 13. While board 20 may be any suitable board preferably of the same thickness as panel 11, the invention has particular use in conjunction with the display of advertising mats, consisting of advertising indicia marked upon respective boards or panels. Accordingly, the member 20 will be referred to as an advertising mat and may be assumed to have any appropriate indicia mounted on the front face thereof, as indicated by the legend Indicia. Such indicia can take the form of a sheet of paper with appropriate artwork or other material thereon, pasted to the board to form the complete mat 20.

FIG. 1 shows in full lines a mat 20 of smaller size than aperture 13. As shown in FIG. 1, the respective slide members 17 are adjusted so that the respective edge portions of mat 211 are received slidably and frictionally between the respective tabs 18 and rear panel 10, with the respective edges of mat 20 respectively abutting the respective flanges 18a. The frictional engagement of each slide member 17 within its respective pocket holds the assembly in place during any normal handling of the display unit.

FIG. 1 shows in broken view a mat 2011 of smaller size than mat 20, which is accommodated by moving the slide members 17 inwardly with respect to their full line posi tions of FIG. 1.

In the extreme outer positions of slide members '17, the tabs 18 are generally nested within the cutouts 14, making it possible to accommodate a mat of substantially the same size as aperture 13. In the outer position of slide member 17, its outer edge extends substantially to flange 12. In the broken line position of FIG. 1, in which slide members 17 are substantially in their innermost positions, their outer end portions are still received within pockets 15.

It will be apparent that other appropriate relative di mensions of the frame members and of the slide members may be adopted, depending upon the range of dimensions of the mats 20 which are to be supported by the unit.

It will also be apparent that any suitable friction means may be employed for retaining the slide members 17 frictionally within their adjusted positions Within pockets 15.

While I have disclosed a preferred embodiment of my invention, and have indicated various changes, omissions and additions which may be made therein, it will be apparent that various other changes, omissions and additions may be made in the invention without departing from the scope and spirit thereof.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Adjustable frame unit for advertising mats comprising a rear panel, a front panel opposing and fixed to said rear panel, said front panel having a generally rectangular aperture with peripheral edges, said units being formed with pockets between said panels extending outwardly from said peripheral edges, a plate-like slide member within each said pocket and slidable inwardly and outwardly, and a tab on the inner end of said member located inwardly of said pocket and forwardly spaced from said rear panel, said tabs being adapted to be positioned so as to retain advertising mats of various sizes within said aperture with each edge portion of said mat positioned between a respective tab and said rear panel.

2. Unit in accordance with claim 1, said unit also comprising means frictionally releasably retaining each said slide member in its adjusted position in its pocket.

3. Adjustable frame unit for advertising mats comprising a rear panel, a front panel opposing and fixed to said rear panel in parallel relationship thereto, said front panel having a generally rectangular aperture with peripheriil edges, said unit being formed with pockets between said panels extending outwardly from said peripheral edges, each said pocket having respective front and rear faces defined by the rear face of said front panel and the front face of said rear panel, a plate-like slide member within each said pocket and slidable inwardly and outwardly, said slide member having corrugations on its front face extending crosswise of the direction of movement thereof, said pocket having complementary corrugations on said rear face of said front panel which intermesh frictionally and releasably with said aforesaid corrugation to permit frictional retention of said slide member in selected position relative to said pocket, said front panel being yielda-ble to permit shifting of the relative positions of said corrugations in adjusting the position of said slide member, and a tab on the inner end of each said slide member located inwardly of said pocket and forwardly spaced from said rear panel, said tabs being adapted to be positioned so as to retain advertising mats of various sizes within said aperture with each edge portion of said mat positioned between a respective tab and said rear panel.

4. Unit in accordance with claim 3, the space between the rear face of said tab and the front face of said rear panel being substantially equal to the thickness of said front panel, said front panel having cutouts extending to the respective side edges of said aperture and positioned and adapted toreceive said tabs in the maximum outward position of said slide members.

5. In combination with an advertising mat having a backing of paperboard and the like, an adjustable frame unit for displaying said advertising mat comprising a rear panel, a front panel opposing and fixed to said rear panel, said front panel having a generally rectangular aperture with peripheral edges and sized, to receive said mat wholly Within said aperture and against said rear panel, said unit being formed with pockets between said panels extending outwardly from said peripheral edges, a plate-like slide member within each said pocket and slidable inwardly and outwardly, and a tab on the inner end of said member located inwardly of said pocket and forwardly spaced from said rear panel, the spacing between said tab and said rear panel being substantially the same as the thickness of said front panel, the thickness of said mat being substantially the thickness of said front panel, said tabs being adapted to be positioned within their pockets so as to retain said advertising mat within said aperture with each edge portion of said mat positioned between a respective tab and said rear panel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,038,171 McAdams Sept. 10, 1912 1,076,161 Schwarz Oct. 21, 1913 2,101,500 Jagus Dec. 7, 1937 2,593,195 Rosenberg Apr. 15, 1952 

